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AND so the penny has finally dropped at Anfield.
That Luis Suarez is a dodgy piece of work who can't be trusted.
A player who has let down one of the most famous clubs in the world and forced their celebrated manager into a grovelling apology.
The only question is: What took them so long to find out?
When Suarez became too much of a liability at Ajax he was sold on — despite 111 goals in 159 appearances.
There were dressing-room rows with teammates and a flood of bookings, a number for diving.
There was also the infamous goal-line handball in the last minutes of extra-time that saved Uruguay from defeat by Ghana in the World Cup quarter-final in South Africa. Uruguay went on to win the penalty shoot-out and Suarez was acclaimed a hero in his own country for sacrificing himself for the team.
Everywhere else he was condemned — especially after his gloating remarks that his was the real Hand of God.
How he had made the save of the tournament.
The breaking point at Ajax came five months later when Suarez bit an opponent in the neck to earn himself a seven-game ban and the nickname 'The Cannibal'.
During this suspension, he was flogged to Liverpool for £22million.
How come Liverpool got him?
With that sort of record, you might imagine all the usual suspects from Spain and Italy would have been at the front of the queue.
They weren't. They had obviously done their homework on South America's version of El Hadji Diouf, ironically another Liverpool purchase.Perhaps, Liverpool felt the risk was worth taking.
Yesterday's statement from the club, saying Suarez had lied to manager Kenny Dalglish about his willingness to shake Patrice Evra's hand on Saturday, shows that they, too, have had enough.
It came not long after an article in the New York Times questioned the silence of Liverpool's Boston-based owners.
It read: "If the Fenway Sports Group is to be the responsible team owner in soccer that it has proved to be in baseball, it needs to get hold of Liverpool and repair its global image fast.
"It's time for John Henry and Tom Werner to state clearly the direction the team will take on the Luis Suarez issue."
Now there is only one course of action. Liverpool, like Ajax before them, must wash their hands of him.
Certainly, it is inconceivable to think the Uruguayan firebrand can ever play in a Liverpool-Manchester United match again. If he did then Alex Ferguson's fear that Suarez's action at Old Trafford "could have caused a riot" could well become reality.
Can you imagine the potential for trouble should Suarez line up in the Liverpool team against United next season?
It doesn't bear thinking about.
Suarez is known back home in Uruguay as El Pistolero — the Gunfighter. Totally loose cannon, more like it.
The problem facing Liverpool now is they could have trouble offloading a player who is tainted goods.
As Carlos Tevez has discovered, you can have all the talent in the world but, with a reputation behind you, selling clubs are at a disadvantage.
So Liverpool, already sold a pup in Stewart Downing and with a £35million investment in Andy Carroll still to bear fruit, may well have to take a significant cut on the one player who has lived up to his transfer fee. Yesterday was a day of drama as Liverpool, waking to more horrendous headlines, decided it was time to finally face the problem head on.
Central to this was the fact that Suarez had rewarded his manager's support by going back on his word about shaking Evra's hand and making a fool of him.
First came the Suarez apology. Too late by about two months.
Then came the brief but damning statement from Liverpool managing director Ian Ayre calling Suarez's behaviour totally unacceptable.
And then the words of Dalglish himself explaining how Suarez had wrong-footed him and led him to browbeat Sky's Geoff Shreeves by saying contemptuously: "It is bang out of order for you to blame Luis Suarez for anything that happened here today."
He apologised for that and for "not conducting himself in a manner befitting a Liverpool manager."
What a comedown — and what a position to be put in — for a manager who conducted himself so magnificently after the Hillsborough disaster. He has found himself in this position because of a stunning lack of leadership from either within Anfield or across the Atlantic since the original Evra-Suarez incident last October.
Instead, Dalglish was left to blunder from one PR disaster to another after a basic failure to see the big picture.
Liverpool went into customary default mode, first circling the wagons and then going on a counter-attack against a world they believe to be against them.
And so we had the unwise and inappropriate decision to wear T-shirts in support of their troublesome striker.
And then the defence of the indefensible when Dalglish, too chippy by half, claimed earlier this week that Suarez was back and should never have been away. This sent out totally the wrong message to fans and players alike — encouraging Suarez, who doesn't need much encouragement, to react the way he did at Old Trafford.
Just before the Manchester United game, Dalglish said: "I have spoken with Luis and I know he will shake Evra's hand."
His reward for his loyalty? A kick in the cojones.
Dalglish now knows he can no longer trust a player dogged by controversy.
Suarez's former Ajax manager Marco Van Basten once said: "He is unpredictable and hard to influence. That's what makes him special."
No, it doesn't. That's what makes him a sociopath, someone who cannot empathise with others and sees life only from his own point of view.
Someone oblivious to the consequences of his actions.
No, Evra is hardly an innocent in the matter, either.
His cavorting in front of both Suarez and the Stretford End — only ended by the quick intervention of referee Phil Dowd, who had a superb afternoon in trying circumstances — was totally unacceptable.
Evra gives the impression of a self-opinionated, pot-stirring, barrack-room lawyer whose captaincy of his country in South Africa ended in a French implosion and players on strike. But at least he made an effort at conciliation by extending his hand to Suarez.
The Uruguayan's refusal to accept it set in motion a bad-tempered afternoon and a further disintegration in the relationship between England's two most celebrated clubs.
In the end, we had a furious Ferguson saying Suarez should never be allowed to play for a club of Liverpool's standing again.
Liverpool wouldn't have liked it but they seem to agree Ferguson has got this one right.
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